Photos of Bill Clinton’s visit to Columbia, Mo.

I picked Clinton. I based my choice on political hierarchy (former president trumps presidential candidate) and longevity. I’ll have other chances in my career to see Obama, but Bill Clinton is outgoing. Maybe he wouldn’t like this adjective, but it’s the cold, hard truth.

Here’s what I learned from my first time covering a political rally, for no other media than this blog. Exclusive!

1) A 6-month-expired Missourian ID will get you riser space in Hillary’s campaign. They barely glanced at it.
2) Security is very loose. Secret Service kept to themselves: no ID check, no metal detector, no bag search. Nada.
3) Bill Clinton points a lot. He talks with his hands, and since he usually holds the mic with his right hand, he points with the left hand. Wedding band in your face.
4) Bill Clinton has a bad tailor or none at all. Maybe it’s to seem closer to the people that he wore a too-tight jacket with too-short pants. But he’s got charisma nonetheless.
5) Photographers must work out. Standing on a square foot of space for 3 hours holding a sweet but unbelievably heavy lens hurt my back like hell. My kingdom for a masseuse.
6) Photographers are nice. There was an excited atmosphere in the press quarter, since most of us were J students, not the blasé journalists of press pools. And a million thanks to Matt Cavanagh who lent me a sweet telephoto lens with which I took all the photos below. My 18-55 would have been useless in a rally setting. Cool first outing on the news field for my 20D. Check out more on my Flickr gallery.

5 Responses

Item number 4 reinforces number 3: his jacket was so short so that you could see those white cuffs flailing all over the place, which was perfect for whenever he wanted to emphasize something. Great photos.

This site holds the portfolio and musings of Isabelle Roughol, a young journalist, writer, occasional film producer, environmentalist and proud Missouri School of Journalism '08 grad. Based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia Lille, France, and looking for work.